There’s so many things I want to share in this post, so be prepared. Also, this is a start to finish in a day post, quite literally on my birthday, so also be prepared!

This post contains affilliate links. You get some, I get some! Treat Yo’ Self!

As you read this, or think of me today (when you’re reading this, even if it’s not when this goes live), listen to: this, this, and this. Yes, I will always reference my band, and yes, this blog will take me so much longer to write, because I had to stop and appreciate the videos. Watch the behind the scene’s of High Hopes here, because it’ll show you how obnoxious Brendon really is!

Yes, I’m being so “basic” and making a mood board for 24. I’m all about setting goals and making sure I’m happy and setting myself up to be happy in the future, by pushing myself now. Of course in a healthy manner!

I have lyrics from one of the songs I suggested to listen to (Hey Look Ma, I Made It!), a planner, to keep planning for the future, and make amazing memories, as well as build myself in all aspects I can, and the film picture for Farmlands, which is from Lauren Southern. This film really inspired me back into my journey of investigative journalism.

A little known fact about me, is that I wanted to go to college for journalism, and investigative journalism was (and is) something I wanted to more focus on. I never went because I know my talents are decent, but the field is so overpopulated, and I didn’t want to waste my time, money (or really credit to pull out student loans) for a degree that would hinder me more than help me.

With things like Skillshare (2 free months if you sign up!), and freelance work, I want to make it happen. I have some ideas in the works, that I am going to start on this year, since the fire has been kindled underneath me. I’ll see where it takes me!

To continue onto some of my vision board for 24, I have cooking, savings, and photography goals and aspirations. All are overlapping as well as different.

Now let’s get into a tarot reading, because why not?! Here’s the spread I chose for today:

Now, here’s my drawing, which by the way, was spot on, and I am glad I drew it!

Yes, this is a hot mess, but it spoke to me! I won’t go into great detail here, but this spread called out that I should forgive and allow my past to be my past, be and create my confidence and leader self, and go after the goals that I wish to set up for myself, in aspects of betterment and what my soul longs for. This is going to be a good year for me (until I turn 25, and I can assess how 25 will treat me!).

So, with all of that in mind, that is the general gist of me turning another year older. I have some basic things planned in honor of my birthday, with those that are close and love.

What do you like to do for your birthday? Do you have any specific rituals you do each year, or do you try to do something different? Do you do anything at all? I’d love to know! Share in the comments what you do, or have done!

Over the weekend, I had a dream. Obviously I dream like the average person. Over the years, especially the last handful of months, when I dream, it’s had more of a purpose, instead of random things every night, or few nights. This dream was one of those dreams, and I wanted to share it with you guys.

If you couldn’t tell, I turned to my tarot deck for some help decoding the dream. Dreams aren’t always clear, but are metaphors to what your mind and soul need to sort through. Tarot is a great way to help reflect and aide in what dreams could be about. The cards you draw, if done intentionally, can help guide you.

Would you be interested in me sharing a guide to get into Tarot? I’m no expert, but I can share what I know. Let me know in the comments, and I’ll gladly share!

Anyway, back to my dream. I don’t remember much of it now, but I remember a decent bit, and how it made my soul feel. Yes, it’s been a few days even, since the dream!

Here are my notes from the tarot reading, and what I got out of both the dream, and the tarot reading of the dream:

The Dream Spread’s Layout:

The Dream Spread (my reading):

Yes, I did a reading on my bed. Yes, that’s a grandma quilt. And yes, I’m going to be getting myself a sewing machine this year, because look at that quilt!Anyway, let’s dive into this dream I had! I used this deck here, which is my newer deck.

Card One (Underneath, in the middle):
Nine of Coins

The deeper meaning, I took from the dream, was the fact that I have found my “home”, my security, through and with my long term man. The universe/Mother Nature/if you’re a believer of God, then God, gave us the direction towards each other, and we are each other’s safety net, the home security that one feels, once they arrive home.

Card Two (laying sideways, in the middle):
Temperence XIV

The hindrance for myself, that was present was the fact that life and love is a journey of not “either/or”, but balance and harmony. Becoming in sync with those around you, what your purpose is, and nature/life, is important. Not even just all three in the same, but each one individually as well.

Becoming one with ourselves, and with outside forces, which includes the closing scene in my dream, which was Dave and I at a man made beach of sorts, and him seeing and feeling what I felt through my own body, and I myself, being conscious of both the experience and of him seeing it though my eyes, meant harmony and balance of us both, together.

Card Three (12 o’clock):
Six of Swords

This one was the first that popped for me, out of this spread. It matched so well to the dream even! The question is: What was I unable to see?

It drew me to the scene I just described, which was my last dream scene that I recall. I was unable to focus on what I had now, in that “boat” with my “ferry man”, and was focusing too much on the dream past.

Most of us do focus a lot on the past, and on the future, but never on the moment right in front of us. I needed reminded of the power of the now, the present, and other than physical death, that’s the only constant we have. Our past gets distorted in ours and others’ memory, and the future is always uncertain.

Card Four (9 o’clock):
Four of Coins (Reversed)

This is the card that had me reflecting back to balance. This dream was all about staying balanced, and finding balance where needed, and about the lovely balance babe and I have. Presence and balance in the present, while considering what I’ve learned from the past (but never dwelling on it), and the present moment, to guide to my ideal future, is what I need to focus on.

Card Five (6 o’clock):
Death XIII

My favorite number-13-and the not-what-you-think card, of Death. I’ve made friends with this card.

From this dream, I’m getting the vibe of keeping and finding balance, including letting things stay in the past, present, and future, and focusing on what I can control in this moment, and being in the moment as much as possible. I should release the past, since it’s already done, and focus on the now, and what needs to be created.

Card Six (3 o’clock):
Queen of Cups

Some key take-aways of this dream: the universe has my back, and through babe, it’s shown. He also has my back, and wants me to see things for the way that they are, when they are. He is the manifestation of what I am here to learn, experience, and enjoy. There’s so much more I could say here, but it’d turn into a sappy fest sort of deal, and I’d rather save that for him!

In conclusion, this is a conclusion of a similar dream that I’ve had before. I felt that I’ve had this dream in the close past, but brushed it off, since I wasn’t so into dream reading at that time. This is a conclusion dream, since I felt satisfied even before looking into what she was about. The reading solidified it even more.

Are you guys interested in dream readings, and how to do your own? Let me know and I can do a how to, and recommend tarot decks, or even an online service (free or paid, app or online). Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be honest (like I strive to be, always), I’m a baby when it comes to tarot. I only started it last year (2017), but I’ve enjoyed it like many others have.

Like I’ve shared, I just recently got my second deck, and I kind of went half backwards. I don’t know if you can go half backwards, but from anything I’ve learned over the last couple of years, is that when your gut says something, go with it and find out why later.

When I started looking into my first deck, early last year, I somehow became drawn to “non-traditional” decks, if that’s what they’re called. This year, I got myself a traditional style deck, and she is so pretty! She really does shine.

I like using both, and they both give me different insights, simply because (I believe anyway) they have different styles of deck, so they naturally highlight different things. Another part, is my journey and my intentions with each deck, due to how each read to me.

I’ve gotten questions and concerns about how I use them, and why. So if you’re too shy to ask, here’s my answer: I use tarot readings for internal reflections. I don’t use it to forecast anything that I don’t already know, or need to know, when I use them.

I use them when I have a mental block on something like suggesting a service to ya’ll (if my gut is in line with my head, if my head is making things up, etc). I use them when I feel torn between multiple things, or what I should consider on something.

If I’ve been occurring a similar dream pattern, or having too much deja vu, I’ll seek out what I’m ignoring, since whatever it is, is right in front of me screaming.

Like some girls say that they do their make-up for themselves, I do tarot readings for myself, and it’s helped me (and some of my anxiety), while trying to sort out this brain of mine. Grant it, I do other things like meditate, yoga, and read/research.

So a little over a week ago, I shared that I’m getting back into Tarot readings on myself. If you’re new around here, or haven’t read it, here’s my shameless plug. This week, to start the Tarot Tuesday semi-theme that I’ll have near indefinitely, I want to share some history behind tarot and tarot reading.

In a couple weeks, I’ll share more of my story of how I got into my journey of tarot, and what I’m using it for/getting out of it. But for this week, I’ll be doing the history of Tarot, and not my journey with it.

Let’s dive into the history! To let you know, it’s not mandatory to know the history of tarot to get into it. I only knew a spec of the history before working on this post.

From Mary Greer, she shares on her blog what every noob should know about Tarot history. It started during the early Renaissance (almost Gothic era) in Italy, as a card game. Over time, suits were added, and the cards as we generally know it, came about. How a lot of us imagine or use tarot today didn’t become a thing until the 1700’s.

Apparently there’s even an origin story of how tarot got it’s name. That’s still even being debated! Mary even goes into a list of why it’s important to know the history, and even some ways it’s not really important. The “Anti-History” list is something one doesn’t see too often on stuff like this.

I won’t go into detail of her list. I’ll let you click the link, if you’re interested. It’s down just slightly in her post. Below that, she goes into the Myths of tarot, of each side like she did with the history. Her layout is pretty interesting and something I don’t see too often. I love blatant and easy stuff to look at/read, when it comes to researching something. I don’t like all of the fluff that some people try to add, to make one side “prettier”.

She’s very heavy into the intuition side, so if your intuition guides you to learn then do, or learn as you go, or do-fail-learn, then that’s the way to go. As long as you’re learning, growing, and truly reflecting on what the cards are handing to you, it’s the way to do it.

Now, for us audio learner junkies, I turned to this YouTube video, that’s 6 and a half minutes long, from Howcast. This is their second in their series about the Tarot. Here’s a playlist of them, for easy access.

Especially in the first video, she shares how I view tarot readings, which is essentially a mirror of yourself. It’s like a mirror and a magnifying glass, where the readings help you reflect better on an internal issue.

The other videos go into detail about the major and the minor, the four suits, and shuffling, if you want insight for those things. I linked to their website, but the same videos are on their YouTube channel.

The learning type ones (the major and minor arcana, the suits) can easily be listened to. The other ones could be as well, if you’re somewhat familiar.

Now, if you want the EASIEST thing ever, in terms of layout (like if you want a quick overview and like reading over listening), go check out this simple chronological chart of tarot history. This gives the basic “year- tidbit of history” style for you.

These sources are very basic, but do the general history, at least for me, good justice. I love simplicity and audio when it comes to research, like I mentioned before, and I feel like these 3 gave me what I needed to know, for now. It’s a good start to a journey of the history of tarot.

Let me know if ya’ll want me to go into further detail/research on this sort of thing, and I’ll try to come up with something!

Now I know that this will eventually become a Tuesday thing, but I want to start this out on the “eve” of a Full Moon, as I give my new Tarot deck a “moon bath” tonight while at work (I’m calling it a moon bath okay?!). So that’s my disclosure on that, whatever that’s worth.

I can’t give a full review of this deck yet, as I won’t be using it until tomorrow morning. Yet, as I move through a journey with this deck, you and I will see what I get out of it. I won’t share every insight I get, but you’ll catch a glimpse. I don’t know if this is a girly deck, or a very flamboyant one (like a Beverly Hills gay guy), but we’ll see.

To start out really, I should give some context to y’all. I have another deck, a Native American version to be exact. I’ve really enjoyed that one, but she’s not a “classic” style deck. Her suits and style are based on the Native American tribes and life, like the chiefs and warriors and maidens.

Maybe I’m doing the whole tarot thing backwards, as in I should’ve gotten a “traditional” style deck first, but when I looked for my first deck, the Native American one stood out to me, as it was different. That could be most of why I went this route.

I’ve felt a calling to get back into tarot readings and reflections. I also felt a desire to have a traditional, but brighter aesthetic looking deck, in contrast to the simple, while non-traditional deck I already had. So this is how I got to searching for this deck.

I’ll be sharing some of my reflections in the future, as I’m still a noob in reading tarot.

Do you play with tarot or use crystals even? Do you let the moon shine her light on your crystals or deck(s)?